MONTAGUE — At its regular meeting Monday, the Montague school board unanimously approved a group of bids for the construction of the district's new FFA building, which will be placed near the baseball field on Stanton Boulevard.
The site has already been prepared for construction with the removal of several trees. The total cost of the bids is $994,296, which is coming from funds generated by the same 2022 millage approval that resulted in the construction of the school's new multi-purpose gym. Superintendent Jeffrey Johnson said that the total expenditure from the bids was lower than he anticipated, so he considered the collective deals a win for the district.
The district hopes the barn can be completed by this winter so students can begin using it as soon as possible.
Twelve different companies were awarded bids for different part of the project, the largest one being a $316,000 bid from BCI Construction LLC for supplying the pre-engineered metal building. Several other items, including concrete, masonry, plumbing, overhead doors and more, are also involved in the project.
The district will be able to save some money on the project, said finance director Stacey Brown, by using the sinking fund to pay for part of it; the district has received legal counsel that doing so exempts it from the Michigan Prevailing Wage Law, which was passed in 2023, after the bond approval. The law sets a minimum wage that must be paid to contractors and subcontractors on projects that use federal or state funding to complete.
Also during the meeting, technology director Steve Dennison shared an update on the district's technological outlook. One change is the use of Google AI Plus, which the district now has a paid subscription for in order to retain features that previously had been made available for free. The news isn't all bad for the district, however, as Dennison noted that some of the features offered with the subscription have made other software subscriptions redundant, enabling the district to offload those. He added that some improved security features are "music to a technology director's ears."
The district will also be receiving a decent chunk of money, Dennison said, from recycling old Google Chromebooks that it recently replaced with new ones. He said the district would bring in over $16,000 and expects to receive another $10,000-$12,000 for similarly recycling old iPads. He credited moving quickly, before the market for such recycling was saturated, for the large amount to be received.
Athletic director Jay Mulder delivered an update on the school sports teams on the first day of fall practices, sharing that plans have begun to launch a district athletic Hall of Fame. He hopes to have its first induction planned within a year. Mulder also added that the district is adding student leadership training components to the strength classes taught by football coach Phil Koops. The two teamed up on the idea, which Mulder said will benefit student-athletes as they evolve into leaders on their teams.
The district also approved two new hires - elementary teacher Megan VanBergen and high school agriscience teacher Mary Ribbeck - and granted a leave of absence to student support specialist Hilary Kiely, who Johnson said is dealing with an illness in the family and is uncertain of her return date. The move is procedural and allows Kiely to be guaranteed a position in the district if and when she returns to work. Some of her responsibilities overlap with those of new hire Lauren Ross, so the district will be able to provide similar services in the meantime.
